HANG IT UP---

I have several wire hanging baskets that need a liner before I can plant.  Nothing makes me happier than recycling and repurposing what I already have.

I love the texture and earthiness of the age old burlap.  Several years ago I found a good sale on burlap and bought a life time supply.  If push ever comes to shove, I'll have enough to make sackcloth style clothing for family and friends.

My "Bits and Pieces" folder has yielded yet another gem that I had forgotten I had cut out.  Use burlap to line hanging flower baskets instead of the commercial coir liners.  Coir is the natural material found in coconuts originally used in ships' rigging because it stands up to saltwater.


Burlap is usually made from the skin of the jute plant and is more biodegradable than coir.  It is often called Hessian, crocus, sackcloth and gunnysack.  If you are lucky you may find the burlap coffee bean bags at your favorite coffee roasters.

I unearthed my burlap from the fabric stash and cut a  section big enough to double over and lay inside the basket.  I sprayed the cut piece lightly with water to make it a little easier to conform to the basket shape.  It's not perfect--but then, is life?

I did cut a smaller doubled over layer to add to the bottom to help retain the moisture.  Look around, you may have a piece of pond liner or some other garden purposed fabric that would be more efficient than the added bottom layer of burlap.  Afterthought, now that the planting is done I probably could  have laid in a piece of plastic bag.

I had pre-moistened the potting mix the day before and had a selection of plants ready to go.  I used clothes pins around the perimeter of the basket to make sure the burlap stayed in place as I worked to fill with soil and plants.

A work of caution.  If you are a perfectionist and need everything to be neat and tidy, this process may not be for you.  As hard as you may try to fold over the raw edges around the top, some will peek out either here or there.

Remember the recipe for container gardening:
     A Thriller --- spiky plants in center
     A Filler --- mounding plants to fill
     A Spiller --- trailing plants over the sides

Check out the Gardening: Get Good At It reminder of the Central Oregon Master Gardener Plant Sale and Vendor Garden Market segment Tuesday May 28th on KPOV 88.9 FM "The Point" between 9-9:30 am.